Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Review (PS5)

Rose's arm's red, violence ensues

Version Reviewed: PS5 (Standard) / European

Like Dracula himself, Konami has risen from a lengthy slumber and has spent the last few years reviving its most popular series, like Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill. Now, it's Castlevania's turn.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, developed by Evil Empire, is the first new 2D game in the historic franchise since 2008's Order of Ecclesia.

While it's been away, the Metroidvania genre of action platformers has evolved and grown rather saturated, with indie efforts like Guacamelee, Hollow Knight, and many others pushing it to new heights.

It leaves this new Castlevania is in an interesting position; it's now a far less unique proposition than it was 20-odd years ago, so it's a question of whether Belmont's Curse does enough to reinstate the franchise's legendary status amid many excellent alternatives.

I'm not sure it quite manages that.

This is a fairly large Metroidvania action game that begins on the streets of Paris in 1499; monstrous entities have razed the city, all in the service of reviving the king of vampires. Trevor Belmont is summoned to quell the threat, accompanied by his daughter, Rose, a skilled vampire hunter in her own right and the player character for this adventure.

The visuals are what strike me first; it has a wonderful art style and is nicely animated. The exaggerated colours and detailed backdrops make each area look and feel unique.

The first few hours of the game can feel quite straightforward. Paris is almost a mini-Metroidvania before you enter Dracula's castle, where you'll spend the majority of your time.

In a way, I think that's a smart way to introduce the ways the game is different before it dives into familiar territory.

Rose can wield seven different weapon types that each play a little differently; the greatsword is slow and powerful, while the sword and shield allows you to defend against frontal attacks, for example.

The series' famous whip, the Vampire Killer, is reduced to being mostly a traversal tool. You'll use it to grapple to certain points, swing on others, and pull yourself towards enemies.

I should say, one of the weapon types is a whip, most damaging at its furthest reach, and it became my favourite to use throughout the game.

Combat is frequent, as there are demons everywhere, and they reset when you save the game. Many of the enemies will be familiar to series fans, with skeleton soldiers, suits of armour, bats, Medusa heads, and more to contend with.

Enemy variety is pretty good, actually, which helps the combat feel a little less repetitive.

A backstep, dodge roll, and a parry mean you have a number of defensive options, although when faced with multiple foes all letting loose at once, it can be hard to judge any of them — and in the early goings, your health doesn't last too long.

The grapple attack, which lets you move towards an enemy and hit them on arrival, comes in very handy for getting out of dodge, while your arcanas feel best suited to deal with crowds.

These magical attacks are the equivalent of sidearms in other Castlevanias, only they run on mana, earned by landing melee strikes.

I quite like the arcana upgrade system; if you fulfil certain objectives with one equipped, you'll earn points that can unlock extra effects. The cross, for instance, can deal more damage the further away from Rose it is.

You get new arcanas as you defeat bosses and fill out your tarot deck, and bosses typically afford you new traversal abilities too.

Although they're vital to the game's progression, I wasn't blown away by the boss fights. They often look great, but I found a few of them to be quite painful difficulty spikes.

The combat, and sometimes just the movement, feel a little bit slow to start. The grapple, especially, has a long wind-up animation that you need to account for when dodging attacks. Rose can feel a bit unresponsive sometimes.

In terms of how it's structured, Belmont's Curse is very by-the-numbers, though there are some neat environments and mechanics throughout.

The main hall has portraits you can grapple to, and from there reach new areas, for example. There are also some interesting diversions and mysteries to unpick as you explore the map's various regions.

It's all well constructed, save rooms are spaced fairly well (mostly), and it has all the trappings of your typical Metroidvania, with conspicuous obstacles that you can only bypass with specific upgrades or abilities.

I just don't feel like it's particularly standout in any way, really. The combat is okay, and the way the game unfolds is enjoyable if unsurprising.

It's tough, because Belmont's Curse is a perfectly good game that isn't really doing anything wrong.

There's some neat level design here, it looks lovely, and that compelling pull to explore and fill out the map is present and correct.

I think it's maybe the way it feels to play that's a little off; Rose is very well animated but I think they sacrifice a little bit of responsiveness, as she doesn't always feel very snappy to control. It makes some platforming sequences tougher to perform than it feels like they should be.

I'm giving it a bit of a hard time, and maybe that's not totally fair. I have very much enjoyed my time with Belmont's Curse, and I think fans of the genre will like it too.

However, it's hard to shake the feeling that it's merely keeping up with the pack rather than overtaking it, and reaffirming Castlevania as a must-play franchise.

Conclusion

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse gets a lot of stuff right, but in a world where Metroidvanias are a dime a dozen, it doesn't do quite enough to really stand apart.

Decent combat gets the job done, while level design and some lovely art and animation are areas where the game really shines. The game can feel a little unresponsive, leading to some frustrating deaths.

It's ultimately a good Metroidvania and a valiant effort to resuscitate Castlevania, but there's little new to see for anyone who's been keeping up with the genre over the last decade.